Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Dai Jin
Hangzhou goldsmith turned painter who was squeezed out of the Xuande court and came to be seen as founder of the Zhe school
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Wenjin · Hao Jing'an · Hao Yuquan Shanren
Dai Jin, courtesy name Wenjin, styled Jing'an and Yuquan Shanren, came from Qiantang, present-day Hangzhou. He began as a maker of gold and silver ornaments before turning to painting. Summoned to serve the court in the Xuande era, he aroused the jealousy of other painters and had to leave the palace; he then sold paintings in Beijing for more than ten years before going home, where he died in 1462. His landscapes draw on Li Tang, Ma Yuan and other Southern Song academy masters, and he also painted figures, flowers and birds, and religious subjects. Later writers named the manner after his home province, the Zhe school, and regarded him as its founder. Surviving works include Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage and Travellers in the Mountain Pass (Palace Museum, Beijing) and Crossing a Bridge on a Donkey (National Palace Museum, Taipei).
Life and times
Dates 1388 CE–1462 CE